FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2026 • 1:00 pm • MIDTOWN CINEMA – buy tickets
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2026 • 4:00 pm • MIDTOWN CINEMA – buy tickets

Israel, 2024/Drama, 102 minutes/Hebrew w/ English subtitles/Written and directed by Sophie Artus

Every day, Sarah (Noa Koler, The Wedding Plan) cares for other people’s babies at the Children’s Health Center in Haifa’s impoverished, multi-ethnic Halisa neighborhood.  But she also yearns for a child of her own, and after two years of failed attempts, her desperate desire for motherhood collides – with potentially devastating consequences – with the struggles of an overwhelmed young mother who comes to the clinic with her daughter.

Winner:  Best Film, Haifa International Film Festival; Nominated for 5 Israeli Academy Awards including Best Film, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Casting

Halisa has been generously sponsored by Marjorie Sherman and Doug & Jill Sherman

Sophie Artus is a scriptwriter and director, having graduated with an MFA at the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University. She directed several short films, and her first feature film, Valley (2015), received numerous international awards including Best Feature Debut Award at the Haifa International Film Festival. She finds her vocation as a woman filmmaker deeply engaged in social issues.  A pre-recorded Zoom interview with Sophie will follow the screenings.